Sleeping in the forest

"It looks like you can also be generous sometimes. " says Hashimoto with a smile looking at the small kid's back as he ran into the crowd with the candies received from Sakura.

"Come on Hashimoto stop making fun of me. " says Sakura in anger but inside she is surprised looking at Hashimoto's kind smile which is making her feel more and unfamiliar to Hashimoto as if the boy is a completely different person from the academy was he always covering his emotions.

"If can't be helped unless we complete the bridge and get our freedom from Gato. " says Tazuna with a sigh as he looks at the poor condition of the people of the village.

"It must be very hard for you old man. " says Hashimoto shaking his head before long they resumed their journey with groceries for dinner.

---------------------

"They are getting on my nerves. " says Shino with a low tone as he looks at Naruto and Sasuke eat without any manners as they compete to eat more than the other.

"That's why I say eat slowly and have more patience when you eat. " says Hashimoto simply as he takes another bowl of rise and some friend fish.

"Come on Hashimoto stop eating so much and leave some for us as well. " complaint Naruto in anger when he discovered Hashimoto might have eaten a few times more than himself calls out Naruto in disbelief.

"Don't look at me there is more than enough for you on the table. " says Hashimoto disregarding him before he takes another bowl of rice and some soup.

"Come on I want more. " says Sasuke with a serious face as he raised his bowl.

"I also want more. " says Naruto competing against Sasuke before he and Sasuke both puked their food from overeating.

"Come on stop eating if you are going to puke. " cried out Sakura in anger.

"No I need to eat a lot to get stronger. " says Sasuke in refusal as Naruto added "And I need to eat more than him so I am not left behind. "

"That's true but if you are just going to puke that is no help at all. " says Kakashi shaking his head.

"Yeah over eating will only make you weaker when you need to puke. " says Hashimoto with agreement before turning to look at Hinata to ask "Pass me those vegetables, Princess. "

"Are you sure you want more Hashimoto. " asks Kurenai with a speechless face as she looks at Hashimoto who is eating twice as much as Naruto and Sasuke combined don't tell me he is a bottomless stomach.

"It's alright he has worked very hard during day time, so I think it should be alright for him to eat a little bit over the normal people besides are not you Shinobi's abnormal already. " said Tazuna stopping anyone from stopping Hashimoto from eating.

"No we aren't, he is the only abnormal one among us. " says all the shinobi except Hashimoto in unison.

"Now that's just discrimination. " says Hashimoto with a sigh and decided to not argue with the unreasonable people and before long they are done eating their dinner when Sakura asks with a curious face looking at a picture on the wall "Why is this picture torn, I saw Inari looking at it from time to time while we were eating dinner just now. "

"You shouldn't ask something like that Sakura. " quickly says Hinata to stop Sakura as she thought Inari looks at the picture the same as she does whenever she looks at her mother's picture maybe it's a close family relative with when they have an emotional attachment and looking at him makes them sad, so they decided to do that.

"No, it's alright, actually that is the picture of Inari's dad although they are not related by blood, however… " Tazuna slowly started explaining how the village hero/ Inari's dad lost his life in the hand of Gato and his people.

"He was no Hero, there are no heroes only fools that will die. " cried out Inari before running out of the dining room with water in his eyes.

"That kid is pitiful. " says Hashimoto with a sigh when everyone looks at him with a serious face just to make him stand up from the chair before announcing "After dinner, I think it's good to have a nice walk around the village. "

"Let me join you in the patrolling. " suggested Hinata and Shino with a nod as they followed behind him.

After they left Naruto also decided to leave the house but falls face-first from exhaustion making Sakura ask in confusion "Naruto where are you going? "

"Come on I am not yet done with my training. " says Naruto with a serious face before he stands up from the floor so did Sasuke and standing from his chair he announced "Sensei I am also going to train. "

"Since Kakashi is in a bad condition let me help you guys with your training. " offered Kurenai to help.

"Then I will thank you in advance. " says Kakashi with a smile as he has once less thing to worry about and heal faster as well.

"You should just focus on healing for now cause it's unknown when will we get attacked by Zabuza again. " says Kurenai with a nod as she leads Naruto and Sasuke out of the house.

"Kurenai Sensei don't leave me behind. " looking at Naruto and Sasuke following behind Kurenai when Sakura is the only one left behind she also wants to learn something new.

-------------------------

Next morning...

"Hey, Sasuke where is Naruto? " while washing his face asks Hashimoto when Sasuke also left the house to clean himself.

"By the time I returned he was still training by himself. " says Sasuke before he went to the toilet.

By the time Hashimoto arrived in the forest he discovered Haku picking up some medicine and looking at Naruto with a serious face as he says "He might have fallen asleep from exhaustion last night. "

"Your friend is rather fearless to fall asleep in the forest, what is some wild animal decided to take a bite out of him. " asks Haku with a curious face as she turns to look at Hashimoto.

"Then... "